The Dragon You Call “Impatience” Is Probably Your Genius
- Sarah Gruneisen
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Guilherme thought his problem was impatience.
He thought leadership meant being calm.
Measured.
Emotionally even.
At work, he was “the chill guy.”
At home?
Not so much.
His wife saw the dragon.
The irritation.
The internal fire.
The “just do it” energy.
He thought it was something to fix.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Most leaders are not struggling with weakness.
They are struggling with unmanaged power.
The Lie We’ve Been Sold About Emotional Maturity
We are taught that:
🖤 Irritation is immaturity.
🖤 Intensity is instability.
🖤 Impatience is ego.
So we suppress it.
We soften our voice.
We slow our thoughts.
We dim our fire.
Especially in leadership.
But what if that “impatience” is not emotional dysfunction?
What if it’s compressed drive?
What if it’s speed trapped in a system that moves slower than you do?
The ADHD Cycle No One Talks About in Leadership
Guilherme noticed something else.
When he was in flow, he could:
💚 Deliver 3x faster
💚 Solve complex problems
💚 Connect dots others didn’t see
💚 Create momentum
And then?
He crashed.
Energy gone.
Focus scattered.
Self-criticism activated.
Before the program, he judged the dip.
After the program, he understood the cycle.
Peak → Exhaustion → Regeneration → Peak.
The dragon wasn’t the intensity.
The dragon was the shame during the recovery.
The Real Leadership Skill: Not Reacting
The shift wasn’t about becoming calmer.
It was about inserting five minutes.
When irritated.
When triggered.
When frustrated.
Instead of reacting, he would say:
“Let’s talk in five minutes.”
Five minutes to regulate.
Five minutes to breathe.
Five minutes to stop burning the room.
That’s leadership.
Not suppression.
Regulation.
Controversial Take: Some of You Are Too Calm
Yes, I said it.
Some leaders are too calm.
Too polite.
Too measured.
Too emotionally neutral.
They never disrupt.
They never push.
They never challenge.
And nothing moves.
Intensity, when integrated, is a gift.
Impatience, when regulated, becomes momentum.
Irritation, when understood, becomes clarity about what matters.
The Difference Between a Burned Room and a Changed System
An unmanaged dragon burns people.
An integrated dragon moves systems.
The difference?
Self-awareness.
Pause.
Responsibility.
Not personality change.
Not personality suppression.
Integration.
If You’re the “Chill One”
And the dragon only shows up at home…
It’s not because you’re broken.
It’s because home is where you feel safe enough not to mask.
The question isn’t:
“How do I get rid of this dragon?”
The question is:
“What power is this dragon protecting?”
Because very often…
The thing you are trying to suppress
is the thing that will make you extraordinary.
If you learn how to sit with it.
🐉
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